China  Society  Pamphlets 


Number  III. 

Contemporary  Chinese  Leaders 

Brief  Sketches 

By 

MERLE  R.  WALKER 


Issued  by 

The  China  Society  of  America  (Inc.) 

19  West  44th  Street 
New  York  City 


1922 


NO  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


REPUBLICATION  INVITED 


China  Society  Pamphlets 


Number  III. 

§ 

ContemporaryChinese  Leaders 


Brief  Sketches 

By 

MERLE  R.  WALKER 


Issued  by 

The  China  Society  of  America  ( Inc. ) 

19  West  44th  Street 
New  York  City 

1922 


There  is  a  Chinese  proverb  which  says :  “When 
we  see  men  of  worth,  we  should  think  of  equalling 
them ;  when  we  see  men  of  the  contrary  character — - 
we  should  turn  inward  and  examine  ourselves  ”  Ana¬ 
lects  :  IV,  XVII. 


2 


FOREWORD 


Chinese  politics  are  at  present  subject  to  very 
sudden  changes,  and  it  is  therefore  extremely  diffi¬ 
cult  to  select  the  twenty-four  leaders  most  likely  to 
figure  in  the  Peking  dispatches  of  the  immediate 
future.  This,  however,  the  author  has  attempted  to 
do ;  but,  in  order  to  make  good  any  omissions  and 
to  keep  the  list  up-to-date,  he  will,  from  time  to 
time,  prepare  additional  sketches  which  the  China 
Society  will  print  in  pages  uniform  with  those  of 
this  pamphlet. 

In  this  way  we  hope  to  furnish  our  members  with 
systematic  information  concerning  new  leaders  as 
they  come  upon  the  stage. 

ROBERT  McELROY, 

Editor. 


3 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Chang  Chien .  5 

Chang  Hsun  .  8 

Chang  Tso  Lin .  8 

Caen  Chiung  Ming .  9 

Chow  Tsu  Chi .  10 

Chu  Chi  Chien .  11 

Feng  Yu  Hsiang .  12 

Hsu  Shih  Chang  (Old  Hsu) .  13 

Ku  Wei  Chun  (Dr.  V.  K.  Wellington  Koo) —  14 

Li  Yuan  Hung .  15 

Liang  Shih  Yi .  16 

C.  C.  Nieh .  18 

Shih  Chao  Chi  (Dr.  Alfred  Sao-Ke  Sze)  .  19 

Sun  Wen  (Sun  Yat  Sen)  .  20 

Tang  Shao  Yi .  21 

Tsai  Ting  Kan .  22 

Tsao  Kun .  23 

Tuan  Chi  Jui .  24 

Wang  Ching  Chun  (C.  C.  Wang) .  24 

Wang  Chung  Hui .  25 

Wang  Cheng  Ting  (C.  T.  Wang) .  26 

Wu  Chao  Chun  (C.  C.  Wu) .  28 

Wu  Pei  Fu .  28 

Yen  Hui  Ching  (W.  W.  Yen) .  30 


4 


CHANG  CHIEN. 


CHANG  CHIEN  shares  with  Mr.  C.  C.  Nieh  the 
honor  of  being  the  greatest  industrial  leader  in 
China. 

Chang  Chien  was  born  in  1853,  the  son  of  a 
farmer  in  the  Tung  chow  district  of  Kiangsu,  a  dis¬ 
trict  north  of  the  Yangtse,  famous  for  its  cotton. 
His  father  was  a  farmer  on  a  large  scale,  and  was 
well  known  for  many  miles  around  as  a  promoter  of 
benevolent  institutions  and  dispenser  of  consider¬ 
able  generosity  to  those  less  fortunately  placed  than 
himself. 

Mr.  Chang’s  first  education  was  received  privately 
in  his  own  home,  and  his  early  promise  as  a  scholar 
was  shown  long  before  he  reached  his  sixteenth 
year,  when  he  took  his  first  degree  in  the  literary 
examinations  of  the  old  order,  the  degree  known  as 
Hsiu  Ts’ai.  From  that  time  to  this  he  has  taken  the 
very  greatest  interest  in  national  problems  and  in 
the  welfare  of  his  fellow  countrymen. 

In  1878-79  China  sent  troops  to  Korea  to  assist 
that  country  against  invasion  by  the  forces  of  Japan. 
Mr.  Chang  was  appointed  secretary  to  the  army  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  military  council.  After 
the  campaign  he  presented  to  the  Government  sev¬ 
eral  memorials  outlining  the  policy  that  he  believed 
the  Government  should  adopt  for  the  protection  of 
Korea  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  integrity  of 
Manchuria,  urging  that  the  utmost  vigilance  should 
be  exercised  with  regard  to  the  activities  of  Japan. 
These  memorials,  however,  were  pigeon-holed.  Mr. 
Chang  then  renewed  with  great  energy  his  literary 
studies  and  presented  himself  for  the  Metropolitan 
Examination,  wherein  he  distinguished  himself  by 
securing  the  position  of  Optimus,  a  distinction 
which  gave  him  a  national  reputation  as  a  scholar. 

He  then  became  a  chancellor  of  several  academies 
in  the  provincial  capitals. 

In  1898  came  the  Hundred  Days  of  Reform,  which 
Mr.  Chang  regarded  as  premature  and  too  hasty. 
In  1900,  came  the  Boxer  outbreak,  during  which  the 
bitterness  was  intense,  and  Mr.  Chang  exerted  his 
utmost  influence  with  the  then  viceroys  of  the  Liang 
Kiang  and  the  Liang  Hu,  T.  E.  Liu,  Kun  Yih  and 
Chang  Chih-tung,  to  use  their  fullest  powers  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  southeastern  provinces  from  joining  in  the 


5 


fanatical  movement.  He  also  prepared  a  paper  en¬ 
titled  “A  Level-headed  Suggestion  for  Reform,”  ad¬ 
vocating  a  change  in  the  form  of  government.  This 
suggestion  shared  the  fate  of  its  predecessors;  it 
was  pigeon-holed. 

By  this  time  Mr.  Chang  had  entered  industrial 
life  and  was  exerting  himself  in  the  reform  of  edu¬ 
cation.  He  was  starting  cotton  mills,  oil  mills, 
flour  mills,  a  silk  filature,  mulberry  plantations,  iron 
works,  wharf  companies,  fisheries,  a  steam  naviga¬ 
tion  company,  a  salt  refinery,  a  company  for  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  waterways,  and  a  land  reclamation 
company.  This  last  concern  cultivated  land  over 
an  area  of  1,600  chin. 

The  capital  for  all  these  enterprises  was  easily 
forthcoming  because  of  the  integrity  which  was  a 
well-known  and  widely  respected  trait  in  Mr. 
Chang’s  character,  and  secured  for  him  the  confi¬ 
dence  of  the  investing  public.  It  was  thus  very 
largely  due  to  Mr.  Chang’s  initiative  that  China  en¬ 
tered  upon  her  present  career  of  industrial  develop¬ 
ment.  On  the  educational  side  Mr.  Chang  devoted 
the  whole  of  his  yearly  income  to  the  founding  and 
development  of  normal  schools  for  students  of  both 
sexes,  higher  elementary  schools,  elementary 
schools,  agricultural  schools,  commercial  schools, 
schools  of  manual  training  and  handwork  in  the 
crafts.  Normal  school  work  in  China  was  practical¬ 
ly  initiated  by  Mr.  Chang. 

Of  philanthropic  work  Mr.  Chang  has  been  re¬ 
sponsible  for  no  small  amount.  An  orphanage  has 
been  founded  at  Tungchow  under  his  patronage,  ac¬ 
commodating  in  its  various  branches  no  less  than 
1,700  children. 

Enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  public  he  was 
unanimously  elected  Vice-President  of  the  Kiangsu 
Railway,  President  of  the  Kiangsu  Educational  As¬ 
sociation,  President  of  the  Provincial  Assembly, 
President  of  the  National  Agricultural  Association 
and  of  the  Central  Education  Society,  which  met  to 
discuss  many  important  educational  problems  in 
Peking.  He  was  earnest  in  his  efforts  to  secure  the 
adoption  of  a  constitutional  government,  and  the 
establishment  of  representative  institutions. 

Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  he  was 
appointed  High  Commissioner  to  pacify  the  people 
of  his  native  province  (Kiangsu)  and  Minister  of 
Agriculture,  Industry  and  Commerce  by  the  defunct 
T’sing  dynasty,  but  he  declined  both. 

As  a  result  of  the  Revolutionary  disturbances, 
the  Salt  Administration  was  disorganized,  and  in 


6 


order  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  people  and  of 
the  military,  Mr.  Chang,  always  recognized  as  an 
authority  on  the  subject,  was  appointed  High  Com¬ 
missioner  of  the  Liang  Hwai  Salt  Administration. 

When  the  Peking  Government  was  formally  or¬ 
ganized  in  the  autumn  of  1913,  the  President  con¬ 
ferred  upon  him  the  Second  Order  of  Merit  and  the 
first-class  Chaohu  decoration  as  a  token  of  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  his  valuable  service  rendered  in  the  formation 
of  the  Republic.  Mr.  Chang,  who  had  already  been 
appointed  Director  of  the  Hwai  River  Conservancy, 
was  appointed  to  the  dual  post  of  Minister  of  Agri¬ 
culture  and  Forestry  and  of  Industry  and  Commerce, 
and  when  the  two  ministries  were  amalgamated  he 
was  confirmed  in  office  as  Minister  of  Agriculture 
and  Commerce.  When  the  Hwai  Conservancy  Bu¬ 
reau  was  enlarged  and  converted  into  the  National 
Conservancy  Bureau  in  March,  1914,  Mr.  Chang  was 
made  Director  General  of  the  Bureau,  and  in  this 
connection  he  was  commissioned  to  sign  the  pre¬ 
liminary  agreement  for  the  U.  S.  Conservancy  Loan. 

Apart  from  these  Government  employments,  Mr. 
Chang  has  in  his  private  capacity  initiated  impor¬ 
tant  enterprises  in  his  own  district,  as  well  as  being 
the  mainstay  of  the  self-development  and  self-gov¬ 
ernment  of  the  district.  He  is  responsible  for  the 
establishment  of  a  medical  school,  a  museum,  a 
library,  an  experimental  forestry  station  and  nursery, 
a  hospital,  a  public  park,  an  asylum  for  the  poor,  a 
home  for  the  aged  infirm,  an  industrial  home  for 
women,  a  convalescent  home,  a  school  for  deaf- 
mutes,  and  an  observatory.  All  these  institutions 
are  the  fruit  of  Mr.  Chang’s  energy,  and  are  either 
entirely  supported  from  his  private  resources  or 
are  considerably  assisted  by  him  financially,  while 
such  works  as  land  survey  and  registration,  river 
shore  conservation,  and  a  program  for  yearly  in¬ 
crease  of  primary  schools  are  all  due  to  his  efforts, 
though  not  entirely  under  his  financial  support. 


7 


CHANG  HSUN  (Field  Marshal). 


CHANG  HSUN  is  one  of  the  die-hards  of  the  old 
regime.  A  native  of  Kwangsi.  He  is  a  typical 
militarist,  having  held  high  rank  under  both  the 
Manchu  dynasty  and  the  Republic.  He  was  suc¬ 
cessively  Brigadier-General  in  Szechuan ;  Comman- 
der-in-Chief,  Yunnan;  Commander-in-Chief,  Kansu, 
1908 ;  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Kiangnan  forces 
in  1911  with  headquarters  at  Nanking,  where  he  was 
when  that  city  was  attacked  by  the  revolutionary 
forces.  He  cleverly  extricated  himelf  from  this 
dangerous  positon  and  retreated  to  the  North  bank 
of  the  Yangtse  River,  where,  having  commandeered 
all  the  available  rolling  stock  of  the  Tientsin-Pukow 
Railway,  he  continued  his  withdrawal  along  that 
road.  For  months  after  the  abdication  of  the  Man- 
chus  he  refused  to  recognize  the  new  order.  In 
1913  he  elected  to  work  ostensibly  with  the  Repub¬ 
lic  and  accepted  various  military  positions.  He  was 
appointed  Field  Marshal  and  High  Inspector  Gen¬ 
eral  of  the  Yangtse  Provinces  in  1915. 

His  chief  claim  to  fame  lies  in  his  effort  to  re¬ 
store  the  Manchu  dynasty  to  the  throne.  In  July, 
1917,  for  approximately  a  week,  the  Manchu  flag 
flew  over  the  Imperial  Palace  and  the  Emperor 
maintained  a  form  of  government  concurrent  with 
the  President.  Tuan  Chi-jui,  however,  soon  over¬ 
threw  Chang  Hsun’s  forces  and  Chang  sought 
asylum  in  the  Dutch  Legation,  where  he  remained 
until  October,  1918,  when  he  was  pardoned  by 
President  Hsu.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  a  buga¬ 
boo  to  the  supporters  of  the  Republic.  Rumors  of 
an  attempt  to  restore  the  Emperor  in  which  he 
prominently  figures  have  been  frequent. 


CHANG  TSO  LIN  (Field  Marshal). 

CHANG  TSO  LIN,  but  recently  called  “The  Un¬ 
crowned  King  of  Manchuria”  and  the  most  powerful 
man  in  China,  is  today  merely  a  General,  who  has 
suffered  decisive  defeat. 

His  origin  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  Several  ver¬ 
sions  of  his  early  life  are  current,  but  as  a  matter  t>f 
fact  nothing  is  known  of  him  until  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war  in  1904,  when  he  appeared  as  a  leader 
of  Hunghutsu,  or  bandits.  He  later  made  his  peace 
with  his  government  and  was  appointed  General  in 


8 


the  Chinese  Army.  His  men  were  metamorphosed 
from  outlaws  into  “respectable”  soldiers. 

On  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  in  1911, 
Chang  was  appointed  Military  Governor  of  Feng- 
tien.  He  supported  Yuan  Shih-kai  loyally  until 
Yuan’s  death,  and  in  1916  he  helped  Tuan  Chi-jui 
in  restoring  the  republic  after  Chang  Hsun’s  coup 
d’etat.  His  strength  increased  enormously  until  he 
absolutely  dominated  all  that  part  of  China  north 
of  the  Great  Wall. 

Until  his  recent  crushing  defeat  at  the  hands  of 
Wu  Pei-fu,  General  Chang  was  easily  the  dominant 
factor  in  Chinese  politics.  His  name  has  frequently 
been  associated  with  that  of  Chang  Hsun  in  rumors 
of  an  impending  restoration  of  the  Emperor  to  the 
throne.  After  his  defeat,  along  the  railroad  from 
Peking  to  Tientsin,  he  retreated  to  north  of  the 
Great  Wall,  where  the  remains  of  his  army  now 
face  troops  of  Wu  Pei-fu. 

Chang  has  boasted  that  his  financial  strength 
will  enable  him  quickly  to  reorganize  his  position 
and  make  him  again  able  to  move  against  Peking. 
Unbiased  reports  from  Manchuria,  however,  state 
that  Chang  has  suffered  such  a  great  loss  of  face  as 
a  result  of  his  recent  humiliating  defeat  that  he  is 
apt  to  have  difficulty  in  maintaining  his  supremacy 
even  in  the  three  eastern  provinces. 


CHEN  CHIUNG  MING. 

CHEN  CHIUNG  MING  is  a  native  of  Kwang- 
tung,  and  until  recently  has  been  the  leader  of  the 
military  forces  back  of  Dr.  Sun  Yat-sen.  He  was 
Military  Governor  of  Kwangtung  in  1913;  was  im¬ 
plicated  in  the  Yunnan  revolt  in  1915-16,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1920  led  the  Kwangtung  forces  in  expelling 
the  Kwangsi  government  under  Gen.  Lu  Yung  Ting 
and  Gen.  Tsen  Chun  Hsuan.  Although  himself  a 
General,  Chen  Chiung  Ming  is  most  unmilitary. 
Following  the  restoration  of  the  Kwangtung  Gov¬ 
ernment  in  Canton,  General  Chen  was  appointed 
Civil  Governor  of  the  Province.  His  first  act  was 
to  do  away  with  his  body  guard  and  disassociate 
himself  entirely  from  the  army. 

He  is  far  more  interested  in  social  and  industrial 
progress  in  his  native  province  than  in  the  con¬ 
quest  of  his  neighbors.  During  his  incumbency  as 
Civil  Governor  and  largely  through  his  inspiration, 
Canton  has  made  those  remarkable  strides  in  mod- 


9 


ernizing  itself  which  have  astonished  observers.  He 
has  all  along  been  sympathetic  with  the  movement 
of  which  Wu  Pei-fu  is  the  leader  in  the  North,  and 
when  it  seemed  to  him  that  Dr.  Sun  did  not  intend 
to  co-operate  with  Wu,  he  broke  with  his  chief,  as¬ 
sumed  the  actual  leadership  of  the  “Southern  Gov¬ 
ernment”  and  has  successfully  withstood  all  Dr. 
Sun’s  efforts  to  dislodge  him. 

It  is  to  him  that  the  people  of  the  “South”  now 
look  to  secure  for  them  in  the  reorganized  govern¬ 
ment  at  Peking  their  proper  representation  and  fair 
share  of  influence. 


CHOW  TSU  CHI. 

CHOW  TSLJ  CHI,  who  has  probably  held  more 
cabinet  positions  than  any  other  Chinese,  is  one  of 
the  most  capable  officials  of  the  old  school  and  one 
of  China’s  leading  financial  experts. 

Born  in  Shantung  something  over  fifty  years  ago, 
he  completed  his  studies  in  the  Chinese  classics  and 
received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  His  foreign 
education  was  begun  at  Tung  Wen  College,  Peking, 
and  continued  at  Columbian  University,  Washing¬ 
ton,  D.  C. 

From  1896  to  1899  Mr.  Chow  was  acting  Secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Chinese  Legation  at  Washington,  and 
from  1899  to  1900  he  was  Chinese  Consul-General 
at  New  York.  Between  1901  and  1908  he  held  suc¬ 
cessively  the  positions  of  Charge  d’Affairs  at  Ha¬ 
vana,  Consul-General  at  San  Francisco,  and  First 
Secretary  of  Legation  at  Washington.  On  his  re¬ 
turn  to  China  Mr.  Chow  was  made  Acting  Junior 
Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs  at  Peking, 
and  in  1909  was  made  Senior  Secretary  of  the  same 
Board.  He  again  visited  the  United  States  as  Di¬ 
rector  of  the  Chinese  Educational  Mission  to  this 
country  in  1910,  and  in  August  of  the  same  year  was 
transferred  to  Prince  Tsai  Hsun’s  naval  mission  to 
Japan  and  America. 

In  1911  he  attended  the  coronation  of  George  V. 
in  London,  as  one  of  the  Imperial  representatives, 
and  upon  his  return  to  China  rejoined  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Affairs. 

In  November,  1911,  Mr.  Chow  received  his  first 
cabinet  appointment  under  the  Republic,  as  Vice- 
Minister  of  Finance,  and  in  March,  1912,  he  became 
Acting  Minister  of  Finance  and  shortly  afterwards 
was  appointed  Military  Governor  of  Shantung.  In 
1913  Mr.  Chow  was  made  Acting  Governor  of  the 


10 


Bank  of  China,  and  later  in  the  year  Minister  of 
Communications.  In  1914  he  held  the  portfolios 
concurrently  of  Acting  Minister  of  War  and  Minis¬ 
ter  of  Finance.  He  was  Minister  of  Agriculture  and 
Commerce  in  1915,  and  in  1919  was  appointed  Di¬ 
rector-General  of  the  Bureau  of  Currency.  Follow¬ 
ing  the  so-called  Anfu  trouble  in  the  summer  of 
1920,  Mr.  Chow  was  appointed  Minister  of  Finance 
for  the  third  time. 

Minister  Chow  is  a  shrewd  and  capable  diplomat 
and  politician.  He  is  closely  associated  with  Liang 
Shih-yi  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  old  Chiao-tung 
Clique,  or  old  Communications  party,  and  also  in 
many  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises. 


CHU  CHI  CHIEN. 

CHU  CHI  CHIEN  is  a  native  of  Kweichow.  Ed¬ 
ucated  in  the  Chinese  classics,  he  received  the  de¬ 
gree  of  Master  of  Arts  through  competitive  exami¬ 
nation.  Under  the  Ts’ing  dynasty  he  held  various 
high  government  positions,  among  which  were  Su¬ 
perintendent  of  Peking  Inner  Police,  Director- 
General  of  Mongolian  Affairs,  Adviser  to  Viceroy 
of  Manchuria,  and  Director-General  of  the  Tientsin- 
Pukow  Railway. 

Mr.  Chu  enjoyed  the  full  confidence  of  ex-Presi- 
dent  Yuan  Shih  Kai  and  upon  the  recommendation 
of  Hsu  Shih  Chang,  President  Yuan  appointed  him 
Minister  of  Commerce  in  1912. 

In  1913,  during  the  second  revolution,  Mr.  Chu 
was  appointed  Acting  Prime  Minister,  but  refrained 
from  accepting  the  post.  Later  in  the  same  year, 
when  the  revolution  was  suppressed,  he  accepted 
the  portfolio  of  Minister  of  the  Interior.  Under  his 
regime  the  good  roads  of  Peking  were  constructed. 
He  played  an  important  part  in  Yuan’s  movement 
in  1915  to  make  himself  Emperor,  and  upon  Yuan’s 
death,  Mr.  Chu  resigned  his  cabinet  position  and 
returned  to  Tientsin,  to  escape  prosecution  for  his 
share  in  the  monarchical  movement. 

At  the  convocation  of  the  new  parliament  in  1919 
he  was  elected  Vice-Speaker  of  the  Senate,  a  few 
days  following  the  issuance  of  a  mandate  pardoning 
him  for  his  association  with  Yuan’s  monarchical 
movement.  Mr.  Chu,  however,  again  refused  to  take 
office.  In  1919  he  was  Chief  of  the  Northern  Peace 
Delegation  to  the  Chinese  peace  conference. 

He  is  a  powerful  leader  of  the  Chiao-tung  Clique 


11 


and  probably  will  be  a  factor  in  the  present  move¬ 
ments  to  reunify  the  country. 

FENG  YU  HSIANG. 

GENERAL  FENG  YU  HSIANG  is  famous 
throughout  China  as  “The  Christian  General/’ 

At  the  time  of  the  Boxer  uprising,  Feng  Yu 
Hsiang  was  a  young  cadet  in  the  Chinese  Army, 
which,  though  it  took  no  active  part  in  the  mas¬ 
sacres  which  attended  the  summer  of  1900,  was 
under  instructions  to  look  on  while  the  mob  plun¬ 
dered  and  killed.  The  fortitude  with  which  the 
Christian  martyrs  of  that  day,  especially  Miss  Mary 
S.  Morrill,  met  their  deaths,  made  such  an  impres¬ 
sion  on  him  as  a  youth  that,  although  his  conversion 
to  Christianity  did  not  come  until  1911,  it  was  large¬ 
ly  responsible  for  it. 

Today  General  Feng  is  one  of  the  outstanding 
Christians  in  China,  and  his  achievements  and 
those  of  his  men  in  bettering  social  conditions 
wherever  they  have  been,  have  proved  one  of  the 
strongest  influences  for  the  extension  of  Christianity 
in  their  country.  As  a  rule,  one  of  the  greatest 
hardships  to  which  the  civilian  population  in  China 
is  subjected  is  that  of  being  under  the  “protection” 
of  Chinese  troops.  Feng  Yu  Hsiang  and  his  men 
are  among  the  exceptions.  Wherever  they  go,  the 
country  through  which  they  pass  is  left  in  better 
condition  than  they  found  it.  The  cultivation  of 
the  poppy  is  discontinued,  public  gambling  and 
opium  smoking  and  foot-binding  abolished. 

His  men,  of  whom  approximately  ninety  per  cent, 
are  themselves  Christians,  are  among  the  best 
trained  and  best  disciplined  soldiers  in  China.  They 
have  their  Army  Y.  M.  C.  A.’s  and  facilities  for  rec¬ 
reation  just  as  American  armies  have.  Education 
and  vocational  work  are  carried  on  simultaneously 
with  military  instruction.  Under  the  inspiration  of 
their  General’s  leadership,  Feng  Yu  Hsiang’s  sol¬ 
diers  are  the  best  fighters  in  the  country.  It  was 
largely  due  to  his  work  that  Wu  Pei-fu  broke  Chang 
Tso-lin’s  line  on  the  Peking-Tientsin  front  in  the 
spring  of  1922. 

Feng  Yu  Hsiang  stands  for  everything  that  is  best 
for  China.  His  influence,  already  widespread,  is 
growing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  He  has  apparently 
no  personal  political  ambition,  and  will  co-operate 
with  any  leader  who  advocates  and  works  for 
China’s  best  interests. 


12 


HSU  SHIH  CHANG  (Old  Hsu). 


HSU  SHIH  CHANG  (Old  Hsu),  recently  retired 
President  of  China,  is  an  enigma. 

As  a  youth  he  gave  little  indication  of  intellectual 
brilliancy.  He  did,  however,  successfully  pass  the 
Metropolitan  Literary  Examinations,  thereby  quali¬ 
fying  for  official  position.  After  holding  offices  of 
various  ranks,  in  1905  he  was  appointed  Probation¬ 
ary  Grand  Councillor  and  shortly  after  was  made 
Minister  of  Government  Council. 

From  1907  to  1909  he  was  Viceroy  of  Manchuria, 
which  post  he  relinquished  to  accept  the  Presidency 
of  the  Board  of  Communications,  and  Director-Gen¬ 
eralship  of  the  Tientsin-Pukow  Railway.  Early  in 
1911,  the  year  of  the  revolution,  he  was  appointed 
Vice-Premier  of  Prince  Ching’s  Cabinet,  and  later 
in  the  same  year  became  Vice-President  of  the 
Privy  Council.  At  the  same  time  he  was  also  ap¬ 
pointed  Chief  of  General  Staff. 

In  December,  1911,  he  was  made  Grand  Guard¬ 
ian  to  the  Emperor,  the  most  coveted  position  un¬ 
der  the  Manchu  dynasty.  Following  the  first  revo¬ 
lution  Old  Hsu  went  into  retirement,  from  which 
he  emerged  in  1915  when  he  was  appointed  Secre¬ 
tary  of  State  under  the  republic,  which  office  he 
resigned  after  serving  ten  months. 

He  was  a  “Sworn  Brother”  of  President  Yuan 
Shih-kai  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  his  monar¬ 
chical  ambition  until  Yuan’s  effort  to  establish  his 
own  dynasty  failed,  when  he  again  withdrew  from 
politics  for  a  time. 

In  September,  1918,  he  was  elected  President  of 
the  Republic  by  the  so-called  “Tuchun  Parliament,” 
and  held  office  until  June  of  this  year,  when  he  re¬ 
signed  as  a  result  of  the  pressure  brought  to  bear 
on  him  by  Wu  Pei-fu  and  his  followers. 

Hsu  Shih  Chang  is  nicknamed  “Old  Hsu”  by 
the  Chinese,  to  distinguish  him  from  Hsu  Shu 
Tsing,  known  as  “Little  Hsu,”  who,  since  the  over¬ 
throw  of  the  Anfu  Party  in  1920,  still  remains  in 
hiding. 

“Old  Hsu”  is  a  close  friend  of  Marshal  Tuan  Chi- 
jui  and  shares  with  him  the  leadership  of  the  Pei- 
yang  or  military  party.  He  exercises  strong  influ¬ 
ence  over  the  old  militarists,  whose  days  are  now 
nearing  an  end.  It  is  doubtful  if  he  will  long  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  a  power  in  Chinese  politics. 


13 


KU  WEI  CHUN  (Dr.  V.  K.  Wellington  Koo). 


WELLINGTON  KOO  was  well  known  in  the 
United  States  while  still  a  collegiate  undergradu¬ 
ate.  Born  in  Kiangsu,  he  began  his  studies  in  west¬ 
ern  education  in  Chinese  schools,  and  then  came  to 
this  country,  where  he  studied  law  at  Columbia 
University.  While  there  he  so  distinguished  him¬ 
self  by  his  brilliancy  in  the  class-room  and  popu¬ 
larity  on  the  campus  that  his  name  and  reputation 
became  familiar  throughout  this  country.  At  the 
university  he  was  prominent  in  athletics;  was  edi¬ 
tor  of  the  school  publication ;  member  of  the  debat¬ 
ing  team  and  was  elected  to  Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

After  his  return  to  China  his  rise  in  the  diplo¬ 
matic  service  was  meteoric.  As  the  son-in-law  of 
Tang  Shao-yi  he  received  many  opportunities  for 
advancement,  all  of  which  he  met  with  striking  suc¬ 
cess.  In  May,  1912,  he  was  Secretary  to  the  Re¬ 
publican  Cabinet,  in  August  of  the  same  year  was 
Secretary  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  in 
1914  was  made  Councillor  of  the  Ministry. 

In  1915  he  was  appointed  Minister-Plenipoten¬ 
tiary  to  Mexico,  being  at  that  time  the  youngest  man 
in  the  world  to  hold  such  rank.  He  was  next  pro¬ 
moted  to  be  Minister  to  the  United  States,  which 
post  he  held  until  1920,  when  he  was  appointed 
Minister  to  London,  succeeding  Dr.  Alfred  Sze,  who 
took  his  place  at  Washington. 

In  1918  and  1919  Dr.  Koo  was  one  of  the  Chinese 
delegates  to  the  Peace  Conference  at  Paris,  where 
he  took  rank  among  the  leading  statesmen  of  the 
world,  pleading  his  country’s  cause  in  the  face  of 
the  strongest  possible  oppositon  with  such  force 
and  brilliancy  as  to  win  the  admiration  of  all  who 
heard  him. 

At  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1921,  at  the 
Conference  on  the  Limitation  of  Armaments,  he 
again  represented  China  as  one  of  her  three  principal 
delegates  and  there  again  added  new  laurels  to  his 
reputation. 

Today  (August,  1922)  he  is  back  in  China,  where 
he  is  bringing  his  ability  and  experience  to  bear  in 
helping  to  work  out  the  internal  problems  with 
which  China  is  now  confronted.  His  present  posi¬ 
tion  is  that  of  Chairman  of  the  National  Finance 
Committee. 

Dr.  Koo  is  most  impressive  when  addressing  an 
audience  in  English.  There  his  fluency  of  speech 
and  remarkable  smoothness  of  diction  is  truly  spell¬ 
binding.  He  is  so  valuable  to  his  country  as  her 


14 


representative  abroad  that  it  is  probable  that  as  soon 
as  his  services  are  no  longer  absolutely  necessary 
at  Peking  he  will  resume  his  post  at  London  or 
Washington. 

Editor’s  Note :  According  to  news  recently  received, 
Dr.  Koo  has  been  appointed  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 


LI  YUAN  HUNG  (President  of  China). 

GENERAL  LI  YUAN  HUNG,  the  second  presi¬ 
dent  of  the  Chinese  Republic,  was  born  in  Hupeh  in 
1864.  After  six  years’  training  at  the  Peiyang  Naval 
College  he  graduated  in  1888.  During  the  Sino- 
Japanese  War,  in  1894,  he  served  on  a  cruiser.  After 
the  war  he  served  under  Viceroy  Chang  Chih-tung 
at  Nanking,  and  later  at  Wuchang,  where  he  as¬ 
sisted  the  Viceroy  in  training  a  modern  army.  Fol¬ 
lowing  two  years*  study  of  fortifications  in  Japan, 
he  returned  to  China  and  served  on  the  General 
Staff  at  Wuchang,  during  the  five  years  preceding 
the  revolution  of  1911.  General  Li  led  the  revolu¬ 
tionary  forces  in  the  fighting,  which  resulted  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  and  it  was  large¬ 
ly  due  to  his  efforts  that  the  Shanghai  Peace  Con¬ 
ference,  at  which  the  terms  for  abdication  were  set¬ 
tled,  was  held. 

He  was  elected  the  first  Vice-President  of  the 
Republic  and  re-elected  to  that  office  in  1913.  Gen¬ 
eral  Li  made  his  headquarters  at  Wuchang  until 
1914,  when  he  moved  to  Peking  at  the  request  of 
President  Yuan  Shih-kai,  who,  fearing  his  growing 
strength  and  popularity,  felt  more  secure  in  his  own 
position  with  Li  near  him.  At  Yuan’s  death  in  June, 
1916,  Li  succeeded  to  the  Presidency,  which  office  he 
held  until  July,  1917,  when  he  resigned  at  the  time 
Chang  Hsun  executed  his  coup  d’etat,  which  for 
a  few  days  restored  the  young  Emperor  to  the 
throne.  This  restoration  was  short-lived  for  Tuan 
Chi-jui  quickly  overthrew  Chang  Hsun  and  forced 
him  to  seek  asylum  in  the  Dutch  Legation.  Presi¬ 
dent  Li,  however,  refused  to  resume  office  and  Gen¬ 
eral  Feng  Kuo-chang  succeeded  him. 

Until  the  last  change  in  administration  in  June 
of  this  year,  General  Li  remained  in  retirement 
at  Tientsin,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  ad¬ 
vancement  of  many  industrial  and  commercial  en¬ 
terprises  which  aim  at  the  development  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  His  withdrawal  from  active  political  life  in  no 


15 


degree  lessened  the  ardor  of  his  large  following, 
which  has  regarded  him  as  the  logical  man  to  unite 
the  country. 

Following  Wu  Pei-fu’s  victory  over  the  Man¬ 
churian  forces  of  Chang  Tso-lin  and  the  resignation 
of  Hsu  Shih  Chang,  General  Li  resumed  the  office 
of  President,  being  inaugurated  on  June  12th.  Al¬ 
most  his  first  act  following  his  inaugural  address 
was  to  announce  that  his  salary  as  Acting  President 
was  to  be  devoted  entirely  to  the  payment  of  the 
salaries  of  the  faculty  members  of  the  Government 
schools  in  Peking. 

He  evidenced  his  sincerity  and  broad-mindedness 
by  inviting  Dr.  Wu  Ting-fang  to  accept  the  Pre¬ 
miership.  Dr.  Wu  died  a  few  days  after  the  invi¬ 
tation  was  dispatched  and  it  is  not  known  whether 
he  received  it.  Determined  to  make  every  effort 
to  conciliate  the  South,  General  Li  has  offered  the 
Premiership  to  Tang  Shao-yi,  Dr.  Wu’s  close  as¬ 
sociate  in  the  Canton  Government. 

There  is  no  other  man  in  China  who  seems  as 
likely  to  be  able  to  guide  the  country  safely  through 
its  period  of  reorganization.  His  task  is  most  diffi¬ 
cult;  but,  if  he  can  retain  the  support  of  Wu  Pei-fu, 
and  secure  the  co-operation  of  Chen  Chiung  Ming, 
he  will  successfully  accomplish  it. 


LIANG  SHIH  YI. 

LIANG  SHIH  YI,  the  last  Premier  under  Hsu 
Shih  Chang,  is  a  native  of  Kwangtung.  Born  in 
1870.  He  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  Chinese  schol¬ 
ar,  having  passed  the  examinations  for  Chinese  Ph. 
D.  with  the  highest  honors.  In  1906,  Mr.  Liang  ac¬ 
companied  Tang  Shao-yi  on  his  mission  to  India,  as 
his  secretary.  Returning  to  China  he  was  appoint¬ 
ed  a  department  chief  in  the  Bureau  of  Communi¬ 
cations,  and  concurrently  held  the  post  of  Assistant 
Director  of  the  Bank  of  Communications.  In  1909 
he  was  promoted  to  Senior  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Communications.  These  posts  he  resigned  in 
1911,  but  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  was  appointed 
Active  Vice-Minister  of  Communications  and  in  De¬ 
cember  of  the  same  year  was  made  Active  Director 
of  the  Imperial  Posts.  For  a  few  months  in  1912 
he  was  made  Active  Minister  of  Communications, 
and  following  the  abdication  of  the  Manchus  and 


16 


the  election  of  Yuan  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Re¬ 
public,  he  was  made  Chief  Secretary  of  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  office.  From  May  to  September,  1915,  he 
held  the  position  of  Minister  of  Finance.  After  the 
dissolution  of  the  first  parliament  by  President 
Yuan,  Mr.  Liang  was  made  a  member  of  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  State.  Later  he  was  appointed  Director-Gen¬ 
eral  of  the  Customs  Administration  and  Director- 
General  of  the  Bureau  of  Taxes,  which  posts  he  held 
until  the  overthrow  of  Yuan’s  monarchical  move¬ 
ment  in  1916. 

Liang  Shih-yi  was  a  close  follower  of  Yuan  Shih- 
kai  and  one  of  his  most  intimate  advisers,  playing 
an  important  part  in  the  developments  which  imme¬ 
diately  preceded  Yuan’s  death.  After  Yuan’s  death, 
Mr.  Liang  retired  to  private  life  in  Hong  Kong, 
where  he  remained  until  1918,  when  he  visited 
Japan.  After  his  return  to  Hong  Kong  he  was  in¬ 
vited  to  visit  Peking,  which  he  did  as  an  unofficial 
spokesman  for  the  South.  While  in  Peking  at  that 
time  he  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the  Anfu  club, 
which  was  active  during  the  election  of  parliament 
members  in  1917.  After  a  brief  trip  to  Hong  Kong 
he  was  appointed  Speaker  of  the  Senate.  In  1920 
he  was  appointed  Director-General  of  the  Domestic 
Loan  Administration. 

Mr.  Liang  is  one  of  the  richest  men  in  China.  In 
fact,  he  is  so  strong  financially  that  he  is  frequently 
called  the  “living  god  of  wealth.”  He  is  the  ac¬ 
knowledged  leader  of  the  old  Chiao-tung  Clique,  and 
his  influence  is  felt  throughout  the  country.  He  is 
interested  in  industrial  and  commercial  undertak¬ 
ings  of  every  description  and  the  ramifications  of  his 
influence  are  far-reaching.  His  most  recent  politi¬ 
cal  position  was  that  of  Premier  of  Chang  Tso-lin’s 
“Coalition  Cabinet”  and  it  was  against  him  that 
Wu  Pei-fu  directed  his  attack.  He  resigned  shortly 
after  the  commencement  of  hostilities  and  withdrew 
to  his  home  in  Tientsin. 

Liang  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the  old 
Chinese  scholar-politician.  His  closest  associates 
both  in  business  and  politics  are  Chow  Tse  Chi  and 
Yeh  Kung  Chow.  Heretofore  he  and  his  party  have 
been  a  power  in  governmental  affairs  either  as  ac¬ 
tive  office-holders  or  indirectly.  In  financial  and 
business  affairs  he  is  connected  with  the  most  mod¬ 
ern  and  progressive  enterprises  and  it  is  highly  prob¬ 
able  that  when  the  old  order  has  been  changed  and 
the  younger  generation  of  modern  trained  Chinese 
are  in  control,  Liang’s  influence  will  still  be  felt. 


17 


C.  C.  NIEH. 


4 

Mr.  NIEH  is  one  of  China’s  foremost  industrial 
leaders,  educationalists  and  philanthropists.  He 
was  born  in  Changsha,  Hunan  Province,  in  1880, 
the  son  of  the  famous  Nieh  Chih-kuei,  Taotai  t>f 
Shanghai  and  Governor  of  Kiangsu  and  Chekiang 
Provinces.  Under  private  tutors  he  studied  Chinese 
classics  and  alone  continued  his  education  along  en¬ 
gineering  lines.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  years 
Mr.  Nieh  began  his  career  as  cotton  mill  operator, 
when  he,  with  some  influential  friends,  purchased 
the  Heng  Foong  Cotton  Mill  in  Yangtsepoo.  Since 
then  he  has  added  to  his  holdings  in  the  cotton  tex¬ 
tile  industry,  being  interested  in  the  Dah  Sung 
Mills  of  Tungchow  and  Chungming  and  the  Anglo- 
Chinese  Cotton  Mill  of  Shanghai. 

He  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  establishment  of 
vocational  educational  schools  and  takes  a  promi¬ 
nent  part  in  movements  for  the  organization  of  such 
institutions.  In  1915,  Mr.  Nieh  was  Vice-Chairman 
of  the  Chinese  Commercial  Committee  that  toured 
the  United  States,  and  he  was  instrumental  in  in¬ 
fluencing  American  cotton  experts  to  visit  China 
as  technical  advisers  in  cotton  culture. 

Mr.  Nieh  attributes  his  success  in  industrial  fields 
to  the  fact  that  he  follows  modern  methods  of  fac¬ 
tory  management.  His  operators  receive  better  pay 
and  work  shorter  hours  under  far  better  conditions 
than  are  the  general  rule  in  China.  He  is  a  heavy 
contributor  to  many  educational,  religious,  philan¬ 
thropic  and  social  service  organizations.  Prominent 
in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work,  he  has  served  on  various  com¬ 
mittees  and  as  a  Director  of  that  organization  for 
many  years.  In  1920  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Chi¬ 
nese  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  has  been  President 
of  the  Chinese  Cotton  Mill  Owners’  Association,  and 
has  held  such  positions  in  educational  movements 
as  member  of  the  advisory  committee  of  the  Chi 
Ming,  McTyiere  and  Chi  Hsueh  Girls’  Schools,  and 
Director  of  Futan  College. 

Mr.  Nieh  is  pointing  the  way  to  prosperity  in 
China  by  the  adoption  of  modern  methods  of  indus¬ 
trial  organization  and  operation.  He  is  very 
wealthy,  but,  like  Andrew  Carnegie,  is  making  every 
effort  to  die  a  poor  man. 


IB 


SHIH  CHAO  CHI  (Dr.  Alfred  Sao-Ke  Sze). 


DR.  ALFRED  SZE,  Chinese  Minister  to  the 
United  States,  is  one  of  China’s  leading  diplomats  of 
the  new  school.  He  was  born  in  Chengtse,  Kiangsu, 
forty-five  years  ago.  His  early  modern  education 
was  received  at  St.  John’s  University  at  Shanghai, 
and  in  1893  he  came  to  America  to  carry  on  his  pur¬ 
suit  of  Western  learning.  Dr.  Sze  prepared  for  col¬ 
lege  in  Washington  High  School  from  1893  to  1896, 
and  in  1897  entered  Cornell  University,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1901  with  the  degree  of  Bach¬ 
elor  of  Arts,  and  that  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1902.  As 
an  undergraduate  at  Cornell  he  took  a  prominent 
part  in  student  activities  and  was  elected  editor  of 
the  “Cornellian.” 

Upon  his  return  to  China  in  1902,  Dr.  Sze  was 
made  Secretary  to  Viceroy  Chang  Chih-tung  and 
in  1904  Secretary  to  Viceroy  Tuan  Fang.  He  be¬ 
came  Director  of  the  Peking-Hankow  Railway  in 
1907  and  was  Director  of  Northern  Railways  in  1909. 
The  next  year  he  was  Junior  Councilor  to  the  Min¬ 
istry  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  the  year  after  that  was 
promoted  to  the  post  of  Senior  Councilor  to  that 
Board.  Following  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution  in 
1911,  he  was  tendered  the  offices  of  Chinese  Minister 
to  the  United  States,  Peru,  Mexico  and  Cuba,  but 
declined  all.  In  the  first  republican  cabinet  he  held 
the  position  of  Minister  of  Posts  and  Communica¬ 
tions  and  for  a  time  was  Acting  Minister  of  Finance. 

In  1914  he  was  appointed  Minister  to  Great  Brit¬ 
ain,  which  post  he  held  until  1920,  when  he  came  to 
America  as  Minister  at  Washington  to  succeed 
Wellington  Koo,  who  followed  him  as  Minister  at 
London. 

Dr.  Sze  was  chief  Chinese  delegate  to  the  recent 
Conference  on  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  at 
Washington,  at  which  he  played  a  prominent  part 
and  by  his  brilliancy  in  argument  and  familiarity 
with  the  issues  involved  did  much  toward  securing 
for  China  the  many  advantages  she  obtained. 

He  returned  to  China  at  the  close  of  the  confer¬ 
ence  to  report  to  his  Government,  and  remained  at 
Peking  for  several  months,  until  shortly  after  the 
installation  of  Li  Yuan  Hung  as  President,  when  he 
left  to  resume  his  duties  as  Minister  at  Washington. 


19 


SUN  WEN  (Sun  Yat  Sen) 


SUN  YAT  SEN,  sometimes  called  the  “Father 
of  the  Chinese  Republic/’  was,  perhaps,  more  than 
anyone  else  responsible  for  the  overthrow  of  the 
Manchu  dynasty.  He  was  born  in  1866  in  Kwang- 
tung  Province.  Educated  first  in  the  Anglican  Mis¬ 
sion  School,  he  later  studied  in  Honolulu,  and  on 
returning  to  China  entered  Queen’s  College  at 
Hong  Kong. 

He  has  been  the  most  persistent  and  ardent  ad¬ 
vocate  of  democracy  in  China.  For  years  he  did  not 
dare  set  foot  in  his  country,  but  travelled  the  world, 
organizing  his  compatriots  for  the  throwing  off  of 
the  Manchu  yoke.  He  planned  the  revolution  of 
1911,  but  was  in  the  United  States  when  the  actual 
fighting  was  prematurely  precipitated  in  Wuchang 
by  the  arrest  and  execution  of  several  of  the  revo¬ 
lutionary  leaders  there.  Dr.  Sun  reached  Nanking 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  there  was  elected  Provision¬ 
al  President  of  the  Chinese  Republic.  This  office  he 
resigned  in  favor  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai. 

In  1912  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Yuan,  Di¬ 
rector  in  charge  of  the  enormous  plans  for  railroad 
development  which  he  advocated.  He  vigorously 
opposed  Yuan  in  his  efforts  to  establish  himself  as 
Emperor  and  later  when  Tuan  Chi-jui  as  Premier 
dissolved  Parliament  in  1917,  Dr.  Sun,  calling  the 
members  of  Parliament  to  him,  established  the  so- 
called  “Constitutional  Government”  at  Canton. 

Since  then  he  has  steadily  attacked  the  right  of 
Feng  Kuo-chang  and  Hsu  Shih  Chang  to  hold  office, 
on  the  ground  that  they  were  not  elected  to  office 
by  due  process.  When  the  Kwangsi  forces  drove 
him  out  of  Canton  he  retired  to  Shanghai,  where  he 
busied  himself  in  preparation  for  the  campaign 
prosecuted  by  Chen  Chiung  Ming  in  the  fall  of 
1920,  which  resulted  in  the  Kwangsi  troops  being  ex¬ 
pelled  and  Sun  restored  to  power  in  Canton. 

His  chief  associates  in  the  recent  so-called  “South¬ 
ern  Government”  were  Tang  Shao  Yi  and  the  late 
Wu  Ting  Fang.  Dr.  Sun  has  always  denied  any 
personal  ambition  or  desire  to  hold  office.  It  was 
this  position  on  his  part  which  made  it  seem  likely 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  “Southern  Gov¬ 
ernment”  to  unite  with  any  party  in  the  North  for 
the  unification  of  the  country,  and  which  compelled 
Chen  Chiung-ming  to  break  with  Dr.  Sun  and  him¬ 
self  undertake  the  negotiations.  He  has  made  sev¬ 
eral  futile  attempts  to  dislodge  Chen  Chiung-ming; 


20 


but,  although  his  personal  following  is  large,  he  has 
never  been  successful  as  a  military  leader. 

His  troops  in  the  North  of  Kwangtung  have  met 
successive  reverses,  while  Dr.  Sun  on  a  gunboat  in 
the  river  at  Canton,  has  hurled  defiance  at  the  vic¬ 
tors  and  ineffectually  bombarded  the  city.  At 
length  advised  of  the  collapse  of  his  campaign  on 
land  he  went  to  Hong  Kong  on  a  British  man-of- 
war;  from  there  to  Shanghai,  where  he  doubtless 
will  take  a  residence  in  the  international  settlement, 
and  from  whence,  because  of  his  still  large  personal 
following,  he  will  continue  to  influence,  if  not  take 
an  active  part  in  the  reorganization  of  the  country. 


TANG  SHAO  YI. 

TANG  SHAO  YI  is  one  of  the  earliest  Chinese 
returned  students.  Born  in  Kwangtung  in  1860,  he 
was  one  of  the  first  group  sent  by  his  government 
to  the  United  States.  Here  he  studied  at  Columbia 
University,  but  was  recalled  by  his  government  be¬ 
fore  his  graduation  because  of  the  skepticism  on  the 
part  of  the  then  Chinese  Minister  at  Washington  as 
to  the  real  usefulness  of  Western  education. 

The  year  following  his  return  he  was  given  a 
post  in  the  Korean  Maritime  Customs  Bureau.  Here 
he  attracted  the  attention  of  Yuan  Shih-kai  and  was 
appointed  Secretary  to  the  Imperial  Resident  in 
Korea.  Following  the  Sino-Japanese  War  he  was 
made  Consul-General  in  Seoul.  In  1900  he  co¬ 
operated  with  Yuan  Shih-kai  in  Shantung  in  sup¬ 
pressing  the  anti-foreign  movement  which  originat¬ 
ed  there,  and  in  1902  he  was  made  Customs  Taotai 
of  Tientsin. 

Mr.  Tang  was  appointed  Special  Commissioner  to 
Tibet  in  1904  and  visited  India  as  China’s  envoy 
to  negotiate  the  Tibet  convention.  In  1906  he  was 
successively  Junior  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  Director-General  of  the  Shanghai- 
Nanking  Railway,  and  the  Lu-Han  Railway,  Comp¬ 
troller-General  of  the  Revenue  Council  in  Peking, 
Senior  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Communica¬ 
tions  and  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 

The  next  year  he  was  made  first  Governor  of 
Fengtien  under  Hsu  Shih  Chang,  the  then  Viceroy 
of  Manchuria,  and  in  the  following  year  was 
sent  to  the  United  States  as  Special  Envoy  to  thank 
our  government  for  the  remission  of  the  surplus  of 


21 


the  Boxer  indemnity.  In  1911  he  was  made  Minister 
of  Communications  and  in  December  of  the  same 
year  he  was  Yuan  Shih-kai’s  delegate  to  negotiate 
with  the  revolutionary  leaders  for  peace.  Following 
the  abdication  of  the  Manchu  Emperor,  Mr.  Tang 
was  appointed  Prime  Minister.  He  resigned  this 
portfolio  in  June  of  the  same  year  and  became  High 
Adviser  to  the  President. 

As  President  Yuan’s  monarchical  movement  de¬ 
veloped,  Mr.  Tang  more  strongly  opposed  it.  At 
Yuan’s  death  in  1916,  Mr.  Tang  was  made  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  but  did  not  take  office  because 
of  opposition  in  Peking.  Since  the  last  dissolution 
of  Parliament  he  has  been  opposed  to  the  Peking 
Government.  With  Sun  Yat  Sen  and  Wu  Ting 
Fang,  he  formed  the  triumvirate  which  led  the  so- 
called  “Southern  Government.” 

Mr.  Tang  has  a  very  wide  circle  of  friends  among 
Occidentals,  with  whom  he  is  very  popular.  He  is 
not  as  bitterly  partisan  as  some  of  his  associates  in 
the  Canton  Government  and  it  is  to  be  expected  that 
should  he  accept  the  invitation  recently  extended 
him  by  Li  Yuan  Hung  to  be  Premier  in  the  cabinet 
of  reunification,  he  will  play  a  prominent  and  influ¬ 
ential  part  in  the  solution  of  his  country’s  present 
internal  difficulties. 


TSAI  TING  KAN. 

t''7!  v  ’  V  "V  ' . !V’^;3;!T5 

1  -  S  I  ^ 

ADMIRAL  TSAI  TING  KAN  is  one  of  the  finest 
examples  of  the  possibilities  of  combined  Chinese 
and  American  culture.  Born  in  Kwangtung  in  1861, 
after  primary  education  at  a  country  school,  he 
studied  at  the  Chinese  Educational  Mission  School 
in  Shanghai.  He  was  one  of  the  first  students  sent 
to  America  in  1873,  where  he  entered  Hartford 
Grammar  School,  from  which  he  later  transferred  to 
New  Britain  High  School. 

He  returned  to  China  in  1881  with  other  Chinese 
Government  students  because  of  the  complaint  of 
the  then  Chinese  Minister  at  Washington  that  the 
students  were  being  taught  disrespect  for  their  eld¬ 
ers  and  were  forgetting  their  mother  tongue.  After 
his  return  to  China,  Mr.  Tsai  joined  the  Tor¬ 
pedo  School  at  Taku,  upon  his  graduation  from 
which  he  became  Captain  of  a  torpedo  boat ;  in  1892 
Commodore  of  the  Fleet,  and  in  1912  became  Vice- 
Admiral.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Inspector  of  the  Salt  Administration  and  resigned 


22 


this  post  to  become  Associate-Director  of  the  Cus¬ 
toms  Administration.  He  was  Chief  English  Secre¬ 
tary  under  President  Yuan  Shih-kai. 

Admiral  Tsai  is  well  known  to  many  Americans, 
especially  at  Peking,  where  he  plays  a  prominent 
part  in  the  social  life  of  the  legations.  His  ability 
as  a  public  speaker,  in  which  he  charmingly  com¬ 
bines  Chinese  wit  and  satire  with  the  colloquial 
speech  of  New  England,  is  proverbial.  The  Ad¬ 
miral’s  latest  appearance  in  the  United  States  was 
during  the  recent  Conference  on  the  Limitation  of 
Armaments  at  Washington,  to  which  he  was  ac¬ 
credited  as  an  adviser  to  the  Chinese  Delegation. 

He  is  a  most  ardent  friend  of  America  and  advo¬ 
cate  of  American  methods,  and  among  Americans 
he  is  one  of  the  most  popular  Chinese. 


TSAO  KUN  (Field  Marshal). 

TSAO  KUN  is  a  leader  in  the  Peiyang  Party  and 
is  one  of  China’s  foremost  Tuchuns.  He  was  bom 
in  the  Province  of  Chihli  in  1862.  Thirty-five  years 
ago  he  was  a  soldier  in  the  ranks,  when  he  took  up 
the  study  of  military  science,  graduating  from  the 
Military  Academy  in  1890.  For  five  years  he  was 
a  professor  at  his  alma  mater  and  then  was  appoint¬ 
ed  Director  of  the  Soldiers’  Training  School  at 
Shiao-Chan,  where  Marshal  Tuan  Chi-jui  was  the 
chief. 

Following  the  Boxer  uprising  he  was  made 
colonel  of  a  regiment  and  in  1902  was  promoted 
to  be  brigadier-general.  From  1903  to  1911  he  was 
stationed  in  Manchuria  as  division  commander,  and 
on  the  outbreak  of  the  first  revolution  was  ordered 
into  Northern  Chihli  to  stem  the  tide  of  revolt.  In 
1915  he  led  the  campaign  against  General  Tsao  Ao 
of  Szechuan,  who  rose  against  Yuan  Shih-kai’s  im¬ 
perialistic  movement.  At  President  Yuan’s  death 
he  returned  to  Chihli  and  was  made  Tuchun  of  that 
province. 

In  1917,  General  Tsao  was  appointed  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  troops  in  the  Lianghu  provinces,  and  two 
years  later  was  made  Commander-in-Chief  of  Sze¬ 
chuan,  Kwangtung,  Hunan  and  Hupeh.  It  was  his 
troops  who  recaptured  Yochow  and  Changsha  from 
the  Southern  forces.  His  ablest  general  at  that  time 
was  Wu  Pei-fu,  who  has  since  then  grown  so  strong 
that  he  has  successfully  opposed  his  former  chief. 


23 


TUAN  CHI  JUI  (Field  Marshal). 


GENERAL  TUAN  is  the  recognized  leader  of 
the  Peiyang  or  Military  Party  in  China.  Born  in 
Anwhei,  he  attended  the  Peiyang  Military  Academy, 
and  after  his  graduation  served  in  the  army  in  vari¬ 
ous  subordinate  positions.  When  Yuan  was  Viceroy 
of  Chihli,  General  Tuan  was  made  Chief  Military  Ad¬ 
viser.  In  1906  he  was  made  Brigadier-General  in 
Fukien  and  was  promoted  to  full-fledged  General  in 
1909,  when  he  commanded  the  Sixth  Division  of 
the  Luchun.  He  succeeded  Yuan  as  Viceroy  of 
the  Hukuang  provinces.  In  1911  he  commanded  the 
first  army  which  fought  against  the  revolutionists 
at  Wuchang,  yet  he  was  one  of  the  military  com¬ 
manders  to  sign  the  memorial  in  1912  urging  the 
Emperor  to  abdicate. 

He  was  made  Minister  of  War  in  the  first  re¬ 
publican  cabinet  and  three  years  later  was  made 
Field  Marshal.  Marshal  Tuan  has  been  Premier 
three  times;  first  in  1913,  again  after  Yuan  Shih- 
kai’s  death,  and  in  1917,  when  he  overthrew  Chang 
Hsun’s  monarchical  movement. 

He  is  courageous,  simple-minded  and  sincere.  He 
has  never  lost  the  confidence  of  the  Chinese  people, 
who  regard  him  as  one  of  the  grand  old  men  of  the 
country  who  may  sometimes  be  wrong,  but  never  inten¬ 
tionally  so.  He  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Anfu 
group  in  1920  which  was  overthrown  by  Wu  Pei-fu 
in  the  summer  of  1920. 

During  the  fighting  around  Peking  in  the  summer 
of  that  year  he  lived  quietly  in  his  home  at  Tuan-ho, 
near  Peking,  and  since  that  time  has  remained  in 
retirement. 


WANG  CHING  CHUN  (C.  C.  Wang). 

DR.  C.  C.  WANG,  born  in  Chihli  in  1882,  studied 
for  some  time  in  the  Peking  Methodist  University,  then 
went  to  America  in  1904,  where  he  studied  in  various 
universities.  He  was  graduated  from  Yale  University 
in  1908  as  civil  engineer  and  from  the  University  of 
Illinois  with  a  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  1909  and 
Ph.  D.  in  1911.  While  in  America  he  was  very  promi¬ 
nent  in  student  activities,  both  at  the  universities  and 
in  the  Chinese  student  associations  throughout  the 
country.  He  studied  railway  administration  in  Europe 
and  upon  his  return  to  China  was  appointed  member 
of  the  Ministry  of  Communications. 


24 


During  the  period  of  the  Provisional  Government  in 
1912,  President  Yuan  repeatedly  offered  him  the  post 
of  English  Secretary,  but  he  declined.  Later  he  was 
made  Co-Director  of  the  Peking-Hankow  and  Peking- 
Mukden  Railway.  With  Dr.  Chen  Chin  Tao  he  was 
sent  to  America  to  arrange  for  a  site  for  the  Chinese 
exhibit  at  the  Panama  Exposition  in  San  Francisco. 
On  his  return  to  China  he  was  appointed  Vice  Chair¬ 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Unification  of  Railway  Ac¬ 
counts  and  Statistics.  Later  he  held  concurrently  the 
posts  of  Director  of  the  Department  of  Railway  Fi¬ 
nance  and  Accounts  and  Acting  Director-General  in 
the  Ministry  of  Communications. 

In  1917  he  was  appointed  Acting  Managing-Director 
of  the  Peking-Mukden  Railway.  While  holding  this 
post  he  ordered  the  withdrawal  of  all  rolling  stock  from 
Koupangtze,  and  so  prevented  the  bandit  troops  of  Gen. 
Feng  Ling  Kuo  from  raiding  Peking,  at  the  time  of 
Chang  Hsun’s  attempted  monarchical  restoration.  In 
recognition  of  this  valued  service  he  was  promoted  to 
Managing-Director  of  Peking-Hankow  Railway,  which 
office  he  resigned  in  the  winter  of  1919,  following  his 
return  from  Europe,  where  he  had  been  sent  as  tech¬ 
nical  delegate  to  the  Peace  Conference  at  Paris.  In 
April,  1920,  he  was  appointed  associate  General-Man¬ 
ager  of  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railways. 

Dr.  Wang  is  one  of  those  returned  students  on  whom 
so  much  reliance  has  been  placed  by  Americans  and 
modernized  Chinese.  He  is  interested  in  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
work  and  many  social  and  philanthropic  movements. 

By  perseverance  and  hard  work  Dr.  Wang  has  dem¬ 
onstrated  the  superiority  of  efficiency  in  departmental 
administration  over  the  old  methods  of  Chinese  bu¬ 
reaucracy.  The  success  which  he  has  won  is  one  of  the 
real  causes  for  the  present  growing  demand  on  the  part 
of  the  mass  of  the  Chinese  people  for  real  capacity  in 
office-holders. 


WANG  CHUNG  HUI. 

WANG  CHUNG  HUI  was  born  in  Kwangshi  in 
1882.  He  studied  at  Peiyang  University  in  Tientsin 
from  1895  to  1900,  and  during  the  Boxer  trouble  went 
to  Japan,  where  he  studied  political  affairs.  After 
that  he  went  to  America  and  in  1904  received  the  de¬ 
gree  of  D.  C.  L.  from  Yale  University.  In  1905  he 
continued  the  study  of  jurisprudence  and  international 
law  in  England,  France  and  Germany. 


25 


He  was  made  assistant  to  Lu  Chang  Hsiang,  China  s 
representative  at  the  Second  Hague  Conference  in  1907. 
At  the  Conference  at  Nanking  following  the  revolution 
in  1911  Dr.  Wang  represented  Kwangtung.  Later  he 
was  appointed  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Pro¬ 
visional  Government  at  Nanking,  and  in  March  of  1912 
was  made  Minister  of  Justice  in  the  first  republican 
government  at  Peking.  This  office,  however,  he  re¬ 
signed  in  July  of  the  same  year,  following  the  resigna¬ 
tion  of  Tang  Shao-yi  as  Premier. 

He  was  next  offered  the  position  of  Chief  Adviser 
to  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  which  appointment  he 
declined,  going  to  Shanghai,  where  he  engaged  in  jour¬ 
nalistic  work.  In  1915  he  was  very  active  in  opposition 
to  Yuan  Shih-kai  and  his  efforts  and  influence  largely 
contributed  to  the  overthrow  of  Yuan’s  monarchical 
movement. 

In  1916  he  was  appointed  President  of  the  Civil  and 
Criminal  Law  Codification  Committee,  in  charge  of 
that  vitally  important  work,  upon  the  success  of  which 
hinges  the  abolition  of  extraterritoriality.  In  1920  he 
was  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  last  year 
was  one  of  the  three  Chinese  delegates  to  the  Confer¬ 
ence  for  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  at  Washington, 
where  his  irrefutable  arguments  and  brilliant  speaking 
made  him  an  outstanding  character. 

Since  his  return  to  China  he  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  efforts  to  bring  about  the  reunification  of  the 
country  and  has  been  considered  for  various  portfolios 
in  the  tentative  cabinet  now  being  organized. 

It  is  certain  that  in  the  years  to  come  Dr.  Wang  will 
play  a  very  prominent  part  in  Chinese  affairs. 

Editor’s  Note  :  According  to  news  just  received  Dr. 
Wang  has  been  appointed  Acting  Premier. 


WANG  CHENG  TING  (C.  T.  Wang). 

C.  T.  WANG,  as  he  is  known  to  foreigners,  is  per¬ 
haps  the  best  known  Chinese  not  in  the  diplomatic 
corps.  He  was  born  in  Ningpo,  in  the  Province  of 
Chekiang,  in  1882.  After  receiving  his  preliminary  ed¬ 
ucation  in  his  native  province  he  went  north,  where  he 
studied  in  the  Peiyang  University  at  Tientsin.  After  his 
graduation  from  that  institution  he  taught  in  various 
schools  and  then  went  to  Japan  as  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secre¬ 
tary.  In  1907  Dr.  Wang  came  to  America,  where  he 
first  entered  the  University  of  Michigan.  Between  1908 
and  1911  he  attended  Yale  University,  from  which  he 


26 


was  graduated  in  1910  with  a  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  He  returned  to  China  in  1911,  and  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  Chinese  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  Shanghai. 

Soon  after  the  first  revolution  he  actively  identified 
himself  with  the  revolutionary  leaders  and  worked  for 
a  time  under  Li  Yuan  Hung,  whose  representative  he 
was  at  the  peace  conference  held  at  Shanghai.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Provisional  Legislature  held  at 
Nanking  in  1912,  and  went  to  Peking  when  the  national 
government  was  transferred  to  that  city.  He  was  ap¬ 
pointed  Vice  Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industry  by 
President  Yuan  and  later  acted  as  Minister.  At  the 
convening  of  the  first  parliament  in  1913  he  was  elected 
Vice  Speaker  of  the  Senate. 

When  parliament  was  dissolved  by  President  Yuan, 
Dr.  Wang  retired  into  private  life,  from  which  he 
emerged  to  become  Secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  After 
the  death  of  Yuan  Shih-kai  in  1916,  parliament  was 
reconvened  and  Dr.  Wang  resumed  his  post  as  Vice- 
Speaker  of  the  Senate,  which  position  he  held  until 
parliament  was  again  dissolved  by  Li  Yuan  Hung  in 
1917.  Dr.  Wang  then  went  to  Shanghai  and  became 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  “Constitutionalist  Party” 
opposing  the  Peking  Government.  He  was  for  a  time 
an  ardent  supporter  of  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen,  and  in  1918 
was  sent  to  Washington  by  the  Southern  Government 
to  plead  its  case  before  President  Wilson. 

He  was  one  of  the  chief  Chinese  delegates  to  the 
Peace  Conference  at  Paris  as  a  representative  of  the 
Southern  Government,  and  with  Wellington  Koo  ably 
presented  China’s  case  there.  Upon  his  return  to  China 
he  did  not  return  to  Peking  to  make  a  formal  report  to 
the  Government,  but  settled  in  Shanghai,  where  he 
became  associated  with  C.  C.  Nieh  in  various  industrial 
and  commercial  enterprises. 

Since  that  time  he  has  remained  aloof  from  politics, 
taking  the  position  that  until  both  the  Northern  and 
Southern  factions  showed  a  stronger  disposition  to  work 
together  he  could  accomplish  little.  He  is  a  brilliant 
speaker,  both  in  English  and  Chinese,  being  so  eloquent 
in  his  own  language  that  among  his  own  people  he  is 
often  called  the  “silver-tongued.” 

He  has  recently  accepted  an  appointment  as  Director 
General  of  the  Office  of  Rehabilitation  of  the  Shantung 
Rights.  Since  he  has  again  entered  the  political  arena, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  Dr.  Wang  wTill  continue  to  lend 
his  influence  and  energy  to  the  solution  of  his  country’s 
problems. 


27 


WU  CHAO  CHUN  (C.  C.  Wu). 


DR.  C.  C.  WU  is  the  son  of  the  distinguished  diplo¬ 
mat,  Wu  Ting-fang.  He  was  born  in  Kwangtung  in 
1886.  Graduated  from  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  High 
School  in  the  United  States,  he  studied  at  the  Univer¬ 
sity  of  London  and  Lincoln’s  Inn,  London,  receiving 
the  degree  of  Barrister-at-Law  and  LL.  B. 

On  his  return  to  China  he  was  made  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  for  Hupeh  in  1912,  and  later  in  the 
same  year  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Treaty  Commit¬ 
tee  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs.  The  following 
year  he  was  representative  of  Kwantung  in  Parliament 
and  a  member  of  the  Constitution-Drafting  Committee. 
As  a  member  of  the  Kuomintang,  or  Constitutionalist 
Party,  he  has  been  a  follower  of  Sun  Yat  Sen  and  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  so-called  “Southern  Govern¬ 
ment,”  at  times  bitterly  opposed  to  Peking. 

In  1920  Dr.  Wu  was  Vice  Minister  of  Foreign  Af¬ 
fairs  for  the  Canton  Government,  and  in  1921  he  was 
invited  to  be  a  member  of  the  Chinese  Delegation  to  the 
Conference  on  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  at  Wash¬ 
ington  as  a  representative  of  the  “Southern  Govern¬ 
ment,”  but  he  refused  to  attend. 


WU  PEI  FU  (Field  Marshal). 

GENERAL  WU  PEI  FU  is  the  most  popular  mil¬ 
itary  man  in  China  today,  and  the  outstanding  figure 
in  Chinese  politics.  He  was  born  in  Shantung  in  1873. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  by  competitive  literary  exam¬ 
ination,  he  earned  the  Chinese  equivalent  of  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Chinese  literature,  however,  was 
not  sufficiently  interesting  to  him  and  so  he  determined 
on  a  military  career.  Entering  himself,  in  1898,  in  Kai 
Ping  Military  Academy,  near  Peking,  he  graduated 
from  that  institution  with  honors.  He  first  served 
under  General  Nieh,  who  was  killed  while  in  command 
of  the  Taku  forts  during  the  Boxer  uprising  in  1900. 

Shortly  after,  General  Wu  studied  military  tactics 
under  Marshal  Tuan  Chi-jui.  Next  he  joined  the 
Third  Division  under  General  Tsao  Kun  as  training 
officer,  and  under  General  Tsao  advanced  to  rank  of 
battalion  commander.  When  that  Division  was  sta¬ 
tioned  in  Manchuria,  General  Wu  gained  a  large  rep¬ 
utation  by  his  success  in  the  suppression  of  Hunghutsu 


28 


in  the  three  eastern  provinces.  He  commanded  the 
Sixth  Brigade  in  the  expedition  to  Szechuan  against 
Yunnan  and  Kwangsi,  when  those  two  provinces  first 
moved  to  oppose  President  Yuan's  plan  for  an  empire. 

Upon  Yuan's  death  in  1916  his  Division  was  recalled 
and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  Tsao  Kun  was  ap¬ 
pointed  Tuchun  of  Chihli  Province,  General  Wu  suc¬ 
ceeding  his  chief  as  Commander  of  the  Third  Divi¬ 
sion.  His  troops  fought  against  Chang  Hsun  in  the 
summer  of  1917,  and  in  the  spring  of  1918,  as  Tsao 
Kun’s  chief  lieutenant,  undertook  the  recapture  of 
Hunan  from  the  South.  Yochow  and  Changsha  were 
retaken. 

In  the  spring  of  1920,  his  troops  held  a  position  in 
Hunan  ostensibly  opposing  General  Tan  Yen  Kai  of  the 
Southern  Army.  His  men  being  in  arrears  in  pay,  he 
abandoned  his  position  in  Hunan  and  withdrew  his 
army  north  along  the  Peking-Hankow  Railroad  to  Pao- 
tingfu,  the  capital  of  Chihli,  from  whence  he  launched 
his  attack  on  Peking,  then  controlled  by  Tuan  Chi-jui 
and  the  pro-Japanese  Anfu  group. 

To  outward  appearances  Wu  was  still  a  lieutenant  of 
Tsao  Kun,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  Tsao  stood  in  the 
position  of  siding  with  the  President,  Hsu  Shi  Chang, 
and  seemed  powerless  to  stop  the  insubordination  of  his 
junior.  Apparently,  Wu  Pei-fu  on  his  own  responsibil¬ 
ity  carried  on  the  campaign,  which  resulted  in  the  dis¬ 
solution  of  the  Anfu  cabinet.  The  fruit  of  his  victory, 
however,  was  snatched  from  him  at  the  last  minute  by 
Chang  Tso-lin,  who  sided  with  Tsao  and  at  the  confer¬ 
ence  at  Tientsin  between  Chang  Tso-lin  and  Tsao  Kun, 
who  advocated  a  people’s  conference,  Wu  was  utterly 
ignored  by  the  two  Field  Marshals.  Accordingly,  he 
withdrew  his  army  to  Hankow,  where  he  bided  his 
time.  There  his  strength  increased  rapidly  until  in 
1921,  when  Wang  Chan  Yuan,  the  High  Inspector 
General  of  the  Liang  Hu  Provinces,  Hupeh  and 
Hunan,  was  overthrown,  the  only  one  who  was  eligible 
to  succeed  him  was  Wu. 

In  the  winter  of  1921-1922,  when  Chang  Tso-lin’s 
“coalition  cabinet'  seemed  backward  in  supporting  the 
Chinese  delegates  at  the  Washington  Conference  and 
was  even  suspected  of  direct  negotiation  with  the  Jap¬ 
anese  regarding  the  restoration  of  Shantung,  Wu, 
charging  Chang  and  his  cabinet  with  being  traitors, 
again  started  north.  Apparently  the  odds  greatly  fa¬ 
vored  Chang,  because  his  army  was  larger,  better 
equipped  and  better  financed  than  Wu's.  But  Wu's 
men,  of  much  higher  calibre  individually  than  Chang's 
and  under  the  inspiration  of  his  personality,  with  the 


29 


able  assistance  of  the  Christian  General,  Feng  Yu 
Hsiang,  and  his  army,  decisively  defeated  Chang-Tso- 
lin  and  drove  him  and  his  scattered  forces  north  of  the 
Great  Wall.  From  this  he  emerged  as  the  strongest 
individual  in  China. 

Wu  Fei-fu  is  a  fighting  general.  He,  himself,  leads 
his  men  in  action  and  by  recklessly  exposing  himself 
to  danger  inspires  his  soldiers.  From  time  to  time,  of 
necessity,  he  has  supported  himself  and  his  men  by 
levies  upon  chambers  of  commerce,  by  the  seizure  of 
the  receipts  of  the  Kin-Han  Railroad,  but  there  has 
never  been  any  suspicion  that  any  of  the  money  so 
taken  was  used  by  him  personally. 

He  advocates  a  new  government  ab  initio  and  a  par¬ 
liament  of  representatives  elected  in  truly  democratic 
fashion,  the  abolition  of  the  Tuchun  system,  and  the 
adoption  of  all  Occidental  phases  of  civilization  adapt¬ 
able  to  the  Chinese  and  by  which  they  may  benefit. 


YEN  HUI  CHING  (W.  W.  Yen). 

W.  W.  YEN,  recently  Acting  Premier,  was  born  in 
Shanghai  in  1877.  After  preliminary  study  in  local 
schools  he  began  his  education  in  Occidental  ways  at 
St.  John’s  University  in  1891.  He  attended  Tung  Wen 
College  from  1893  to  1895,  when  he  left  for  America. 

In  the  United  States,  after  preparation  in  a  Virginia 
high  school,  he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1900  with  the  degree  of 
Bachellor  of  Arts.  At  the  University,  Dr.  Yen  made 
an  exceedingly  fine  record  for  scholarship,  being 
awarded  many  prizes  for  debate  and  being  elected  to 
Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

Dr.  Yen  returned  to  China  in  1900,  and  was  Profes¬ 
sor  of  English  at  St.  John’s  until  1906,  when  he  en¬ 
tered  the  field  of  journalism  as  editor  of  the  Commer¬ 
cial  Press.  In  1908  he  was  Second  Secretary  of  the 
legation  at  Washington,  under  Wu  Ting-fang,  but 
stayed  only  one  year  before  again  returning  to  China 
to  organize  a  press  bureau  at  Peking. 

After  various  promotions  he  became  Under  Secretary 
of  Foreign  Affairs  in  1912  under  the  first  republican 
government.  A  year  later  he  was  appointed  Minister 
to  Germany  and  Denmark.  He  remained  in  Germany 
until  China’s  declaration  of  war,  when  he  went  to  Den¬ 
mark,  where  he  remained  until  1920.  Shortly  after  his 
return  to  China  he  was  made  Minister  of  Foreign 


30 


Affairs,  which  post  he  has  held  in  several  of  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  cabinets. 

Dr.  Yen  is  one  of  the  real  patriots  of  China  to  whom 
a  large  share  in  the  task  of  working  out  the  country’s 
political  salvation  will  be  entrusted.  His  reputation  for 
disinterested  service  is  second  to  none.  He  sides  with 
no  faction  or  party,  but  always  strives  toward  the  wel¬ 
fare  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 

During  the  present  unsettled  conditions  he  has  served 
as  Acting  Premier,  and  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  in  the 
task  of  reunification  he  will  play  a  prominent  part. 


31 


'f1  Wl  it 

The  China  Society  of  America,  Inc. 

19  West  44tli  Street 
New  York  City 

an  organization  supported  entirely  by  membership  fees  and 
personal  contributions. 

Its  aim  is  the  promotion  of  friendship,  peace  and  com 
mercial  intercourse  between  China  and  the  United  State* 
of  America. 

President — William  F.  Carey 
Managing  Director — Robert  McElroy 
Treasurer — Edward  C.  Delafield 
Vice-Presidents — Edward  B.  Bruce 

Jeremiah  W.  Jenks 
K.  C.  Li 

BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 

One  Year  to  1923 


Mrs.  John  Allan  Dougherty 

William  F.  Carey 

Mrs.  Murray  Whiting  Ferris 

Ralph  Dawson 

Mrs.  Simeon  Ford 

Charles  Hayden 

Miss  Welthy  B.  Honsinger 

K.  C.  Li 

William  C.  Breed 

Ma  Soo 

Two  Years  to 

1924 

John  Jay  Abbott 

Ginarn  Lao 

Edward  B.  Bruce 

Howard  S.  Moy 

Charles  R.  Crane 

Charles  P.  Perin 

Andrew  B.  Humphrey 

Merle  R.  Walker 

G.  Ellsworth  Huggins 

L.  R.  Wilfley 

Three  Years  to 

1925 

Frank  G.  Barry 

Paul  S.  Reinsch 

Abram  E.  Cory 

F.  R.  Sandford,  Jr 

Jeremiah  W.  Jenks 

Louis  L.  Seaman 

E.  M.  McBrier 

Percy  Silver 

Tsze  E.  Pun 

Ralph  A.  Ward 

" WITHIN  THE  FOUR  SEAS  ALL  ARE  BROTHERS " 


